Eager to safeguard its image as an upscale tourist resort, Palm Springs is prescribing art therapy as a partial cure for downtown shops caught up in the economic doldrums.

The city is expected to adopt a plan requiring vacant stores to hang paintings or photographs of old Hollywood movie stars, or come up with their own picturesque remedies to head off creeping blight in the city center.

“We have more vacant storefronts than we did in the past,” said City Manager David Ready. “Many are transitioning or looking for new tenants. This program wouldn’t cost the owner anything and would greatly improve the appearance of the buildings.”

Local artists will be invited to showcase their work and the city will finance the installation.

Nedra Young, chief executive of Social Mosaics, which teaches schoolchildren about mosaic art, contacted the city a few months ago about the idea after reading that Philadelphia was doing the same thing.

“Right now a vacant storefront is nothing but a piece of glass. It has no character, no interest, no nothing, so people walking down the street say, ‘Why do I want to be here? There is nothing to look at,’ ” she said.

Young has already put some of her work in a vacant storefront and will do so again Monday. “I think it will bring a new energy to the area,” she said. “Right now the energy is gone.” Read more.

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About Art Collecting and Investment

Providing news about art collectors, collections and investments. Including the how to's, the why's and the where's of art collecting. Wanda Pepin, Christina Madden and Elaine Frenett are all professional artists who keep up on the world of art, while creating amazing works of art themselves.